Stan kroenke to benefit from brand new Arsenal transfer strategy as new ‘Rodri’ targeted
Arsenal transfer news with the latest rumours and headlines from the January window including a football.london take on matters
Manchester City midfielder Rodri
Arsenal are reportedly looking at the Bundesliga’s answer to Rodri
Arsenal look set to be awfully quiet on transfer deadline day, something that was made easier by the 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest. The victory meant it was back-to-back wins in the league for Mikel Arteta ahead of the January window closing, a small relief following three defeats in a row.
For Arsenal there are bigger tasks to come but had they failed to take six points from the hands of Forest and Crystal Palace, it would have put the club under some pressure to act when they aren’t best placed to be doing business. Constrained by the financial rules and threat of punishment from above, Arsenal are almost certain to end February 1 with the same senior squad they started with.
However, for the final time this window, football.london takes a look at what is going on in the rumour mill.
Kroenke’s new system
Arsenal may not be able to recoup the money from player sales that they need in order to fully free up funds for a more extravagant summer window but they are following a path now trodden more and more by elite clubs. With the news that Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign teenage defender Lino Sousa, more of the same can be expected.
The Gunners have reportedly also given Bradley Ibrahim the freedom to depart, moving to Hertha Berlin before the Thursday evening deadline. Neither player will bring in much – if any – cash, but it is becoming a common occurrence to see academy hopefuls being allowed to leave.
Given that they act as ‘pure profit’ on the financial accounts, it is understandable from a business sense why these deals are getting done. Sousa, for example, only arrived at Arsenal in 2022 and has impressed plenty in his brief stay at the club.
However, the long-term deal he has agreed with Villa comes after just a handful of appearances in matchday squads under Arteta. As for Ibrahim, he has been given the chance to impress in Bundesliga 2.
football.london says: Losing Sousa is a genuine blow for Arsenal. It might not be too much of a dent in the first-team reserves but the precedent it sets is not entirely positive.
Sousa is one of a number of young players that Aston Villa have cast their eye on but that he was also attracting the interest of other top clubs across Europe. In the past two years alone he has seen his chances of playing any sort of regular role at the club all-but-disappear, though.
Jurrien Timber made it three senior options capable of playing at left-back signed in the past two seasons alone when he joined in the summer. Jakub Kiwior followed Oleksandr Zinchenko whilse Takehiro Tomiyasu has also been used there in the past. Sousa’s pathway was made unclear due to business conducted by Arsenal but the value they will get for him is more than can ever truly be turned down.
This method of selling on academy players will help Stan Kroenke and the new transfer system but, in the long run, it could also have a costly impact on the players that are attracted to Hale End in the first place. With the prospect of both Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah also being sold in the next window or two, it’s a fine line but one that could bring great reward.
Zubimendi alternative
Arsenal’s determination to secure a new defensive/deeper midfielder goes on. With Thomas Partey entering the final 18 months of his contract and Declan Rice left to pick up too much of the slack in his wake, the midfield has been a constant point of change for Arteta.
He has tried No.10s in the outside No.8 slots to mixed results. He has paired Rice with Jorginho and has done everything in-between. However, moving forward they are expected to try and buy their way to a new way of operating.
Martin Zubimendi is amongst those strongly linked ahead of the summer, as is Everton’s Amadou Onana, but fresh reports have emerged with a new name being mentioned. Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Larsson is reportedly a target for the the Gunners.
Media reports in Germany say that the teenager, who has a ‘growing reputation’ is now attracting their attention. Larsson has made it clear that he’s actually a Chelsea fan and that he has trialled there too, but he chose to go to Malmo instead.
Now, just six months on from moving to Bundesliga from his home country Sweden, he is being touted as the next Rodri by the Bundesliga’s website due his playing style. “Hugo Larsson is a young and already established midfielder with enormous potential, and who will strengthen our squad,” said Frankfurt board member Markus Krösche.
“We’ll build him up and help him to take his next steps. We’re convinced that he will provide us with lots of excitement in the future.”
Meanwhile, sporting director Timmo Hardung said: “Hugo already creates a very mature impression and will be a perfect fit for our team, both on the pitch and in terms of his personality. We’re delighted that Hugo has decided to join Eintracht Frankfurt and we will give him all the time he needs to adapt to life in the Bundesliga.”
football.london says: If you can’t beat Pep Guardiola and Rodri then just join them and recreate things, right? Arsenal hitch up with inverted full-backs and centre-backs across the defence, Gabriel Jesus on the right, and we’re expected to ignore the connection?
Arteta isn’t copying Guardiola, just to get that out there, but it’s totally understandable why he’s so keen to sign a midfielder that can do the Rodri role. Rice, if anything, is too good at moving the ball forward on the dribble to be properly compared to the Spaniard. They are just different players.
Larsson, however, profiles very nicely. He is 6ft1in tall already and is already into his third full senior season. His physical attributes make him a good candidate for a move to England and although he would need time and nurturing to be up to the level that Arteta needs to make him integral to the team, it’s an interesting deal to analyse.
He is comparable to Zubimendi in terms of style despite their differing leagues and frankly does look like the type of player that will be heavily linked with a big move like this sooner rather than later.
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